The April 11 edition of Friday Class will feature in-studio guest Dr. David Sterling Brown who will discuss American Globe Center’s fascinating proposed project to make a theatre campus in Connecticut featuring the world’s only timber-frame recreation of the famed 1614 Globe Theatre in London a reality.
The program airs 6-9 a.m. and streams here.
Dr. Brown, an associate professor of English at Trinity College, is part of the Stratford, Conn.-based AGC’s working group as a development associate and scholar-in-residence.
The original Globe was built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a company of actors for which William Shakespeare wrote some of his most famous plays. The theatre was destroyed by fire in 1613, but rebuilt in 1614 on the same site. The biggest difference between the two venues was that the original had a thatched roof with one gable while the latter was tiled with two gables. It closed in 1642 and was demolished three years later.
The obvious location for the proposed new build, replicating the 1614 Globe, was in Stratford on the site that was home to the famed 1,500-seat American Shakespeare Festival Theatre which closed in 1989 and was burned to the ground in 2019 by a trio of teen arsonists. Town officials deemed AGC’s visionary project too large as they were opting for a smaller performance arts center that would seat only 350.
At this point, the non-profit group is considering several Connecticut municipalities for their 1,000-seat AGC Playhouse, combined with a 900-seat, plus standing groundlings, timber-frame 1614 Globe Theatre, including Hartford.
They have targeted April 23, 2028, as the opening date — the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Discussions with multiple cities are on-going.
The facility will incorporate a modern performing arts and education center with a state-of-the-art mainstage and blackbox, along with gathering areas, gardens and green space.
AGC believes this will be a premier tourism hub, “a one-of-a-kind destination” blending entertainment, culture and history — making Connecticut “Shakespeare Central.”
They say it will also provide lasting impact when it comes to culture as well as state and local economies.
Citing school programming, workshops and touring performances which will bridge funding gaps in arts education, AGC includes the value of a projected $131 million annual economic boost via tourism, hospitality and associated wages that will fuel the state’s economy. A $1 per ticket surcharge would annually generate $300,000-$500,000 to the municipality that lands them.